Charles L. Coleman III is a partner resident in the San Francisco office of Holland & Knight with more than 30 years of litigation and trial experience. His practice focuses on: (1) complex commercial and tort disputes of all kinds, including many matters on behalf of international clients and many in the transportation industry; and (2) environmental and land use litigation on behalf of major land owners, developers and investors.
Commercial and Aviation Litigation: On the commercial side of his litigation practice, Mr. Coleman has handled dozens of high profile cases for leading domestic and international corporations in a number of different industries, including aviation, defense, telecommunications, transportation, logistics, tourism, software, wine, insurance and mortgage-backed securities. Mr. Coleman has successfully defended clients against claims of fraud, business torts, unfair trade practices, and unfair competition under sections 17200, et seq. of California's Business and Professions Code. In all of his commercial and tort cases, Mr. Coleman places early emphasis on analyzing damage claims and, where appropriate, working with forensic accounting experts to defeat inflated damage claims presented by opposing parties. Mr. Coleman has coordinated the efforts of industry-wide joint defense groups in order to ensure a coherent and cost-effective defense for clients and their insurers.
Environmental Litigation: On the environmental side of his litigation practice, Mr. Coleman has been actively engaged in high-stakes defense of project approvals under the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") and CEQA Regulations, the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") and the Endangered Species Act ("ESA"). Mr. Coleman has worked with the firm's environmental land use team to develop, implement and defend cutting edge strategies to demonstrate compliance with California's AB32 legislation regulating greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions, the California Water Code and complex case law affecting the adequacy of water supplies for proposed developments, and numerous other bodies of law affecting proposed developments, such as those pertaining to cultural resources, endangered species habitat, and fire and flood risks. Other environmental matters handled by Mr. Coleman have included disputes about undisclosed soil contamination in property subject to a sale agreement, environmental cleanup responsibilities under a complex Army Base Reuse Agreement, unauthorized grading, Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings by industrial tenants who left abandoned toxic waste on the site, Army Corps permitting for the construction and maintenance of an industrial pier, and alleged crop contamination attributed to adjacent landowners.
From 1975 through 1977, Mr. Coleman served on active duty as an officer in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps.